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Prey 14.5
Prey 14.5 is the fifth chapter of Prey. Skitter and Weld fight Mannequin and Crawler to protect the heroes held in suspension, Glory Girl gets a fatal injury. Plot Skitter continues flying upwards, reaching a point where her power no longer reaches the ground. She finds the lack of signal from her bugs eerie, musing on how much she is used to getting information from her bugs. The plane passes over, bombing the parking lot and a considerable amount of the local neighborhood, igniting huge flames across the area. The wave of heated air produced disrupts Skitter's flying, but she manages to remain calm and stablise the giant beetle. Tattletale phones her and confirms that both teams and Amy are all ok. Skitter comments that the silk bindings around Crawler will have been undone and Tattletale assesses that Jack and Bonesaw are very likely to have survived the bombings. Skitter considers an underground location such a bank vault to be their most likely location and Tattletale points out that he will be cornered right now, giving them an opportunity to catch him. Tattletale breifly talks to the other teammates and then communicates to Skitter than Genesis is preparing a fireproof form and Sundancer is planning to flash-burn up the oxygen in the area to put out the fires. She encourages Skitter to look for Crawler, since he may meet up with Jack, Bonesaw and Mannequin, with Legend still occupying Siberian. Skitter flies lower to the ground so she can scout the surroundings with bugs to search for Jack and Bonesaw. She notices Crawler making a slow journey towards the parking lot where the heroes are. Cache and Clockblocker are both frozen under Clockblocker's power, but as Skitter draws closer she sees that an unfrozen Weld is engaged in combat against Mannequin. Mannequin has four arms and is using them to hurl cars at Weld, pinning Weld against the heroes and putting them at risk of being crushed as soon as Clockblocker's power wears out. The heroes stored in Cache's pocket dimension could also be at risk if Cache is killed. Mannequin stacks several cars on top of the heroes, and attacks Weld when the hero tries to lift the stack off of his teammates. Skitter retreats and calls Tattletale to explain she requires gear. Reaching the teams, Skitter lands the giant beetle awkwardly, struggling to get its legs into the correct place. Amy explains that the legs and wings alternate on which is functioning, emphasising that she hasn't had any practice making a creation like this. Skitter asks if Amy can perform any changes to make the beetle larger or easier to fly but Amy refuses, saying the beetle is a luxury not a present. Skitter irritatedly explains that Mannequin and Crawler are attacking the Wards while Glory Girl is in Cache's pocket dimension before turning away in annoyance. She asks if anyone has explosives she can drop from above to do damage. Ballistic provides a grenade belt and Trickster gives her his spare pistol, and Amy finally decides to step forward and modify the beetle again. As Skitter climbs back onto it, she explains that flying should be easier now and urges Skitter to focus on helping Glory Girl. Returning to the air, Skitter finds that Amy has made the beetle continue to follow her previous instructions, so that it requires less focus to fly. However Skitter decides that it reduces her control and chooses to supress this new instinct. She locates the scene of the battle by the metallic sounds of the combat, finding that Weld has succeeded in removing all but one of the cars thrown at his teammates, hacking them to pieces with long blades he has created on his arms. Mannequin winds chain around Weld's ankles and drags him away from the other heroes. Flying above Cache, Skitter pulls the pin of a grenade and drops it close to him. The explosion manages to displace the car from its position leaning on him, bringing Skitter's presence to the attention of Mannequin and Weld. Weld and Skitter proceed to team up to keep Mannequin from throwing any more cars at the heroes, with Skitter using more grenades to drive Mannequin out of cover. This exchange draws the attention of Crawler, which Skitter alerts Weld to. Mannequin uses this opportunity to pick up another car. Skitter throws another grenade at him, but instead of taking on Crawler as Skitter had anticipated, Weld moves for Mannequin. Skitter is forced to shout out a warning of the grenade, causing Mannequin to drop the car but also allowing him to avoid the blast. Crawler charges Weld, ripping into him with claws and raking metal off Weld's body. Skitter throws another grenade down, and Crawler swats it in the air using Weld, blasting Weld free of Crawler's grip. While Weld shifts his body back into shape, Mannequin gestures to Crawler, indicating his mouth and then the heroes. Crawler laughs and then spews acid over Cache and Clockblocker. Skitter debates using a grenade to try to clear it, but before anything more can happen Clockblocker's power wears off of Cache. The acid rapidly eats away at Cache's fireproof suit, but he retains enough composure to begin using his power. Crawler and Mannequin charge him, and Weld jumps at Crawler's face this time. Skitter releases the safety mechanisms on the pistol and takes aim at Mannequin. To her shock, the shot succesfully hits and knocks Mannequin to the floor. She follows up with another shot, although she is unable to tell if it connects. Meanwhile, Cache has successfully retrieved the first few heroes, Glory Girl flying forwards to meet Crawler while Weld returns to his fight with Mannequin. Crawler quickly dodges Glory Girl's initial attacks and sprays acid over her, quickly dissolving her fireproof suit, leaving only the skin-tight costume that her forcefield protects. Before anyone can respond, Crawler rushes forward and slams into Glory Girl, smashing her down against the ground. The acid eats through her flesh and begins to eat at the muscle beneath, leaving her screaming and thrashing on the ground. Cache has successfully called in the rest of the heroes before collapsing, but Skitter has no idea what she can do to help. Major Events *Bombing is over *Skitter fights the Slaughterhouse Nine. Trivia *It should be appreciated how dangerous White Phoperous is. Characters Site Navigation Category:Chapters